Construction News

After additional traffic impact information has been submitted, a plan to build a controversial high-rise in an upscale section of Phoenix may be finally voted on by members of the city’s Planning Commission in September.

The project, as proposed by the Phoenix-based DMB Development, would see the construction of a modern mixed-use structure at the site of the current La Maison Interiors at 15450 N. Scottsdale Road.

A document submitted by DMB to the City of Phoenix contends that “given the growth and intensification of uses in the immediate area, the property is no longer conducive to a single-story retail building fronting a major arterial road.”

The original proposal for that 2.2-acre site called for either a 196-foot tall structure or a building 120 feet in height.

Members of the Paradise Valley Village Planning Committee recently voted in favor of the smaller structure, which would house around 100 hotel rooms and condominium units on the project’s upper floors, with retail space on the ground level.

That vote came after residents of the Kierland neighborhood, organized as the Kierland Community Alliance, expressed opposition to the 196-foot tall version of the project.

Although more than 700 Kierland residents have signaled their opposition to the taller project in a petition, the area has seen other multi-story apartment construction in recent years.

The Kierland neighborhood, which rests in both Phoenix and next-door Scottsdale, is made up of upscale residential homes going for as much as $500,000 to $650,000.